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It's high time we shared some good old stories around here. What are some fun moments you've had while playing games? Here are a few that come to mind...

-> It's a holiday at my aunt's house, and we're playing Cranium. One of the people playing is actually someone who had been in jail for several years, and my aunt, having worked at that jail as a teacher for some time, knew him and invited him to spend time with her family. Big imposing guy, no question. And there he was playing a silly party game with us. It was his turn to give a clue, and it was a humming round; we have to guess a song based only on his hums. He reads the card, the timer starts, and he gives two longish grunts. We have no idea what's going on. In response to the silence, he makes the grunts longer, louder, and higher-pitched. The whole time, he just escalates his two-grunt series until it's top-of-the-lungs growling. As time runs out, we learn that he was giving it his all in his stirring rendition of "Downtown."

-> Playing Catch Phrase with my friends freshman year of college, in the dorm elevator (our rooms were all occupied by our roommates and the public spaces were all taken). It's late. We've dealt with a bunch of people worried about the constant beeping coming from the elevator, so we're pretty exhausted. It's Keith's turn. Keith gives us clues... "It's... it's like Saddam Hussein." Iraq, dictator, nothing we're guessing is getting it. Time runs out. "No... it was 'Designated Hitler.'" "Um... do you mean 'designated hitter'?" "OH!"

-> Another game of Catch Phrase, in my room at the very end of my college days. I'm having a real tough time giving a clue, when I see across from me, my sliding window falls out of its rails, and right onto my friend, and grazing another. I think that got me out of having to describe Kathmandu.

-> I wish I remembered more details, but I distinctly remember a game of Bohnanza where I ended up trading a bean for a buckeye - a delicious treat handmade by my grandmother, one of the finest sweets known to man. I don't remember who won the game, but I felt like I truly lost, giving up a buckeye.

-> A personal favorite is when a particularly nonsocial acquaintance had the Malta! card "Hidden Talent" played on him, requiring him to sing a song for 20 seconds (in the deck by special request), and he claimed to not know any songs. Cut to him singing "Happy Birthday" to a potted plant in the room. (Another use of the card was someone playing it on himself, so he could sing "99 Red Balloons" without people stopping him.)

-> Cranium Hoopla had one particularly notorious game for us in college. It started bad enough, by me thinking I could act out breakdancing. You know, it's harder to spin on a floor than I thought. So it appears like I'm having all sorts of convulsions on the ground, and I see I'm getting nowhere. I try to switch it up by doing "break" and "dance" separately. So I take the closest thing and just start trying to destroy it. Then my suitemates (whom I barely know) walk in and see me just going to town on this poor wastebasket. I think at that point I gave up on the word. Still, it's better they walked in on that than when my friend was trying to act out "Honeymoon Suite." Scarred for life, lemme tell ya.

As 99 red balloons go by!

Malta memories:

I was in a game of malta with a group of people who know I am VERY vocal person. I love to talk quite a bit. The card "Silence is golden" was played on me. The card required me to be quiet till my turn. It was hard and EVERYONE was trying to get me to talk. Including one guy poking me...

I also had a game where someone flipped a tile over and then pulled everyone over to it, then used a move everywhere card on the FIRST TURN OF THE GAME. It was a frantic move to get off it. I made it off but sadly the maker of the black hole did not.

Redemption Memories:

Killing 2 sog and 1 aotl in Sealed deck.

Discarding Sog off the top of someone's deck first game first turn at nats.

Breaking teams with doubt

Playing teams with my girlfriend, Marti and Gretchen? (I am bad with names if it was someone else). We were all at the last place table so we didn't care if we won at all. Me and Marti had the same idea on the decks. One of us would play offense, one would play defense. It happened the defensive players and offensive players were on the same sides of the table. So we were showing hands to each other and laughing having a ball, seemingly so much of a good time, people at the next table were cracking up.

Cutthroat cavern memories:

Edge out+ Micheal hue. 'Nuff said.

Family business:

Most of those games were fun. I loved that I got the (the card stopped by safe house?)(I forget the name of the card but it kills like 3 people from everyone) card on the first turn of my first game.

Risk:

My aunt is the queen of risk according to her. She is always one of the last two people alive in the games. We played missions to speed it a bit. I was nicely fortified in South A. with the mission to take Africa/North A. Perfect place to be. I launch an all out assault on North A. decimating both my aunt and Capturing all of North A. in one turn. Everyone thought it was over cuz I wiped her out mercilessly when she had not attacked me when she could have. The look on their faces was priceless when I told them that was not my mission. I got ganged up on for the rest of the game. Last Known I am banned from risk at their house.

Clue:

Hated memory but funny. My friend was the right next to player in a 5? player game of clue. I was plum so I was last. My friend called the accusation correctly on the FIRST turn and I was the one who put the cards in the envelope!


More that I can't think of:

Reserved.

4. Play testing the Pats set before New Begining got discarded after being played lol

THAT was truly an amazing game.  I think one player had 10 cards left in his deck: Miriam, A New Beginning, and a couple evil characters, a few evil enhancements, and a few Lost Souls.  The Miriam, block, ANB got played DOZENS of times in a row in the same turn, each time igniting more and more laughter, before the opponent finally asked, HOW DO YOU KEEP DRAWING THAT CARD?!?  This isn't working!

So, we suggested that we specify that ANB NOT get shuffled. 

Top 10 game memories:

Star Wars: Epic Duels - the game where I was Darth Maul and after a lot of people were killed off (including Maul), I ended up being the lone survivor with my stinkin' battle droid.

Redemption CCG - my first game at my first tournament, when I drew 7 of 8 LS in my deck all on the opening draw.  Amazingly, I came back to win.

Stratego: Electronic Version - the game where I was getting slaughtered and my opponent had all of the top pieces left on the board, but left the piece that I thought was his flag open for a turn.  I was able to sneak attack with my "9-scout" and steal the victory.

Ticket to Ride - the game I played with my 5-year-old daughter recently where she only lost by 1 point.  I was so proud of her.

Shadows Over Camelot - the only game where we successfully defeated the dragon.

RISK - the 6-person game in college where I was squeezed out of all my starting options and ended up with only 2 armies sitting in Japan and no cards.  I ended up coming back to win that one, too.

Diplomacy - the email game where I made a solid Juggernaut alliance that we kept hidden for the first 4-5 moves, and then maintained throughout the game, leading to a race for the solo victory at the end (which I won).

Samauri Swords - the game where I knew that another player was going to throw everything into wiping me out and so I put all three of my armies in reinforced fortifications so that he would have to attack me over water.  Amazingly he still barely pulled it off and won the game.

Fortress America - just about every game that I play of this.  It seems to always come down to the last battle of the last turn, and whether a city holds or falls.  I LOVE that intensity.

Twixt - the first time I beat my Dad.  Growing up I always lost, but I kept trying until finally one day I beat him.

Redemption:
Getting second place at regionals several years ago. First time I had ever placed high before.
Winning 5 games in a row with panic demons.
Losing in 3 turns with panic demons to a garden tomb deck. 

I never remember too many details of games but the games I do remember are huge.

1. Type 2-2 player during Nats @ K.C.  Last round, I was in contention to place if I won and won big but I had to make it through Clift Cresell's sin-in-the camp deck.  I was playing a AOCP abuse/False peace Deck.  I ran up a quick 4-0 lead on him.  I had him locked out with no access to any LS's.  and he says, "I'm gonna make a battle challenge"  and I snickered (not knowing that I would never play another card in that game again)  and said, "goahead, whatever"  I wasn't worried too much.

He comes in with ET banded to Claudia and plays 5 copies of Book of Hozai followed by 5 copied of jashar, and 5 reaches.  and with 45+ cards in his hand, he drops his last card in the 'play next enhancement" chain to start a side battle where he put his archers of keddar  banded to absaloms soldiers in a side battle against the last copy of his archers of keddar.  He has a 2k horses so he played the first enhancement which was...wait for it..

arrogance.  (here is where I started to get worreid.)

5 dreams and 4 more copies of 2khorses (for a total of 23 more cards.. he had drawn at least 68 cards..not counting LS's) until he deccked out.  Then came the fun.  three copies of words of discouragement, five copies of confusion, and five copies of Sin in the camp left me with no cards in hand, no way to get any cards in my deck and no way to discard the 5 SitC.

Last card he played was Great image to nuke my offense.

next round he brought in ET +aocp to nuke my defense and he walked in for a 7-4 win.  Brutal beat at my first Nats.


2. My first local tournament win for type 2-2player.  I was playing an defenseless site lockout deck with EMS (before EMS got ruled against)  In the second game my first draw, I drew 6 Dominants and two heros (SoG, NJ, AoTL, Burial, CM, FA, Moses and Cov of Moses)  I won in three turns. 5-0

3. Midwest Regionals 2 years ago, Ben huntsman was going in for a rescue against Josh Moremond.  Josh was blocking with an orange defense.  Ben was rescuing with Michael.  ben fought off 3 sinning hands by discarding first 4, then 2 then 1 card.  Josh moremond then played a battle winner (pride in something), Ben played flaming sword to negate it and Josh dropped his last sinning hand to remove Michael and seal the block.

I cant even remember who won that game, but I remember that block.  That was a brutal block.


 

  play group game last sunday
    dad plays innumble i play yoke of iron
     he plays battlewiner i play denying blame and the bell rings

Redemption Memories:

Discarding Sog off the top of someone's deck first game first turn at nats.

I'm glad I made your top memories, but I don't remember it nearly so fondly.  Especially since that SoG would have given me the game.      Man that was brutally bad luck that continued the rest of that tournament. (6-4 finish-->20th something place)  First game...first card.  Yuck.  For the next 6 months, J Tower went in all my decks even with Gabe commenting "you don't need that card." In which I would quickly reply: "yes, I do!"

I have lots of great memories, but the one that tops my list is in....
 ...Loaded Questions
My family came up to visit me in Cincinnati and it was one of my newer games.  I explained the rules that all questions must be at least answered honestly.  The question was:
    "Who would you leave your spare house key with?"
   Which normally pulls answers like: family, spouse, best friend/friend and the sort.  One of my family members gave a specific name!  It clearly gave away who it was as we all rolled on the floor with laughter.

My other memory is pretty unique so I'll share it.
   It is Age of Empires with a custom set up map that me and 2 college buddies were going to play.  After many battles on our hall, I was the top player.  I knew they would conspire against me but never in the way that they did.  The plan was to finish setting it up, and then after I got off work (dinner shift at the cafeteria) we would play the scenario all night.
  I get to my room, and we start the game up.  I go into my normal routine prepping and jumping through the ages.  Because of the years, the age's names are a little hazy, but I definitely noticed one friend jump to the third age a bit fast.  I thought nothing of it but scrambled to catch up but no matter how hard I worked...I was the last one to the 4th age which was not normal.  Next thing I know...my outer defense is being bombarded by both opponents with the top upgraded troops.  I fight off the 1st wave of both of them.  I fight off a second wave.  During the third wave (all within minutes of each other), I see the writing on the wall and send off a group for a new base start (all my forward bases were destroyed during the 2nd wave).  I run into a line of towers which again I thought: "weird."  I fight a nook to begin my resurgence.  I lose the original base during the 4th wave.  I was just getting underway when I lost it too.  I was very frustrated and agitated because I had never been manhandled in AoE in such a way before.  In walks my two friends laughing...I asked how they did it so fast.  The revealed computers gave away their treacherous secret....



....they had changed the custom settings while I was at work.  I started at the agreed 1000 each.  They started at 20000 each.   I basked in the glow of the backhanded compliment that they gave me.

Loaded Questions, that reminds me...

A few years back, my family was playing LQ with my grandparents (my grandpa's name was Chet). My grandma asks the question from the card: "If you could say 'I love you' to one person right now, who would it be?" I write, just for a chuckle, "Chet." As we're reading her the answers, once we get to "Chet," she asks: "Who the heck would say that?"

Uncontrolled laughter - including the most I've ever seen my grandpa laugh - for a long, long time. And we even have that on tape!

One time i was playing Monopoly ...

ok I know to many monopoly stories becuase the only time you play monoploy is when you have boat loads of time and it ends up going on till the sun nearly rises and everyone just so tired that anything and everything is funny. (you owe my 26 dollars. here is 20 you be aight. try going to the grocery store and getting 26 dollars worth of groceries then only giving them 20 and sayin "you be aight)

Here's another more recent memory:

We're playing capture the flag during indoor team paintball.  I have Jake and TJ on my team with Forrest teaming with his dad and Jake's dad.  Both teams are pinned down by each team's sniper in a tower.  TJ turns to me and says, "I'm out."  Just as he says this Jake comes down from the tower and says, "Me, too."  I think "Holy Cow" and initiate a Roy O'Bannon suicide run for the flag.  You could hear the staccato of three paintball markers as I grabbed the flag and fired back while out in the open.  Nary a shot touched me.  As everyone was congratulating me and wondering how three shooters could miss me, I checked my hopper to find that I had just three paintballs left.   

lol I thought we were just talking board games!  If we are talking about paintball then I got some more.

1. Once I was playing paintball in 12 inches of snow.  It was so cold the tanks were starting to get real weak and taking some distance off of the shots. ( which put us at a distinct disadvantage because one guy had a tippman with a back spin barrel that caused his shots to go at least 100 feet farther and a lot straighter.)  We were playing in a strip of forest with a half frozen creek on one side and an open field on the other.  both were out of bounds.  In between the two teams of three were trees of various sizes and little gullies.

it was three on three and one of my guys was a noob and got nailed pretty much from the start.  I tend to be a crazy "all offense, all day long" kind of guy.  So I start working from tree to tree while my buddy supports me.  Then I lay down some suppressing fire to help him advance.  Well they got two people trained on him pinning him down and he is stuck between a thicket and the open field (I was on the river side) where he cannot advance.  so he basically camps there laying down sporadic fire.

Well I figure, if he has two of them tied up, why dont I just advance and pick of the one guy on my own.  So I begin to advance and I draw the third players fire.  but I was caught in a spot much more open than I thought so I dived headfirst into this little creek... 

Right in front of me is a Opossum.  He looks at me lets out this little hiss and falls over playing dead.  I literally laughed out loud and grabbed him by the tail and carried him with me until the game ended.  then I let everyone see my "surprised" guest.


2. I once played "submission" with my brother.  Submission is where you stand 20 feet from one another and at the same time, start shooting each other until one gives in.  I didnt notice it at the time but my brother placed his extra pods in front of his crotch.  I didnt think that far ahead.  lucky for me, my brother is a lousy shot ( although I did take one in the neck that broke the skin pretty badly)

unluckily for my brother, I am not a bad shot.  I lit him up bigtime.  He had over 2 dozen nickle sized bruises all over his legs arms and torso.

3.One of the most fun games ever was when my youth group played "assault"  20 people outside and only 4 people inside this converted semi- trailer.  the trailer had two entrances ( one on each end) and four windows.  The four people on the inside had to hold off the assault of everyone outside.  It was deafening when everyone opened fire on the trailer.  those of us in the trailer lost..big time.

4. For my bachelor party, we played paintball. ( seriously, I love this game)  it was 3 on three and it was me, some guy I barely knew and my best freind against three "veteran" players...on thier own home turf.  The field we were playing in was mixed scrub, with trees and some patchy tall grass.  througout this field/forest were ATV trails and the out of bouts were a river and a driveway to the N and S and a highway and an open field to the E and W.  along the East boundary ran a Railroad Track (still in bounds) and a deep gully (about 8-10 feet deep.)

They started on the NE and We started on the SW corners and at the appointed time, began to play.  I made a quick dash to the SE corner and began to S L O W L Y work my way forward from tree to tree.  I would wait 3-5 minutes before moving on slowly scanning for movement. 

I saw two of them slowly moving from tree to tree down the RR track.  I was them before they saw me so that was my advantage and I basially let them move into range and then I pulled the trap on them, taking them both out with a few quick shots.

Then, knowing my shots would attract the attention of the third player, I jumped into the creek bed and ran quikly up the creek bed to make some distance and find a good place to set a trap.

I rain straight into the third player sitting in a small rill waiting to snipe anyone moving up or down the creek.  Luckily for me, he was behind some thick cover and the weeds broke up most of his paintballs.  I dived into a small rill on his side, army crawled up the rill fast and then rolled out on top right behind him.  He was still sitting there thinking I would come out and try to advance up the creek.  I lit him up before he knew I was there.

That was a good day.   

Ghosts in the Graveyard... I was the ghost (it's like, 3 am) and I was wearing a white shirt... so I took it off, and hid it kinda obviously on the ground... then I proceeded to hid under (or behind?) a minivan. they all start looking for me, but upon seeing my shirt, they were unsure. "Is that him?" I walked right in the middle of them all... "yeah guys, I think that's him..." after about 5 min. of argueing, I got bored, and just tagged a guy. but I had fun...

redemption. who will ever forget the "you're gonna pay for that."? Booster draft. I battle challenge (unknowingly, he had his lost souls in sites...) against franta012, with Jepthah, and I discarded Job's Wife and King Zimri. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" blocks Athaliah (at this time I realized it was a battle challenge) throws down a Haman's Plot and shreds that sucker before anything could be said.

redemption. I converted The False Prophet 3 times before he died... IN BOOSTER! I am Patience. Paul's Girdle. I am Patience. Cage. I am Patience. (don't know how he was killed...)